BASICS

REQUIREMENTS

• 3 - 5 players. (The rules are same for all but best dynamics with 4 players.)
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards with 1 joker.

BASIC IDEA (the game in a nutshell)

Suit Taboo is a card game where players cast suit doubts on others (of their suit identity) while trying to keeping their own identity hidden.

• The dealer deals each player a suit card (face down): either an ace or a joker. It defines the player's suit identity and forms the basis of his history line.
• On their turn, the players can either 1. pick a hand card (max. 5 cards), 2. build a doubt catapult, or 3. cast a suit doubt with it.
  • The doubt catapult is a table card (face up) used for casting a doubt, but it also reveals about the player: it can never be the player's own suit.
  • The catapult can either shoot 1 card of the same suit as the catapult, or 1 - 3 cards of the same number (with a bonus).
  • The doubts are placed face down into each target's history line, while the shooter either dumps the catapult or collects it face up (as a bonus shield) into his.
• When the round ends, each player who was not exposed is a winner: had enough doubt shields to block all rightful doubts (= ace's suit, or any for joker).

LAYOUT AND START UP

The players are in a ring, and the deck is divided into the suit deck (with 4 aces and 1 joker) and the remaining play deck (= 48 cards).

• The dealer shuffles the suit deck and deals each player 1 suit card face down (ace or joker). Each should check their suit.
  • HISTORY LINE: The collected doubt shields (face up) and received doubts (face down) are placed above the suit card overlapping each other. Only the owner can check the received doubts, others just know the doubt count (and see the shields).
• The dealer then shuffles the play deck and deals each player 2 hand cards and draws 2 open cards from the deck next to it.
  • UNUSED ROLES: Any leftover suit cards (in 3- and 4-player-games) are typically kept face down under the 2 open cards (see the picture above).
• The player on the dealer's left starts the round, and turns flow clockwise from there on. In the next round, the next player clockwise deals.

PLAYING

ON YOUR TURN

Each turn, you must play one of the three options below:

• Pick a new hand card - either from the deck or one of the two open cards next to it.
• Build a new doubt catapult: by putting one hand card face up (and sideways) on the table.
• Cast suit doubt(s) towards other player(s). The action uses up the doubt catapult and 1 - 3 hand cards.
• GETTING STUCK: If you manage to fill your hand with your own suit (with an unfitting catapult), you won't be able to participate any longer.
  • The player should just declare it to others and his turn will be skipped for the remaining round. (The cards will be checked after the round.)

1. PICK A HAND CARD

Pick a new hand card from the deck or one of the 2 open cards next to the deck.

• If picking an open card, a new one is drawn from the deck, so that there are always 2 open cards (until the deck runs out).
• Each player can have at max. 5 hand cards, so this option is only available with 4 or fewer hand cards.

2. BUILD A CATAPULT

Put one hand card face up (and sideways) on the table in front of you.

• Importantly, the card must not be your own suit - for the joker-player any suit is fine. (Cheating is not in the spirit of the game - and you'd get caught anyway.)
• If you already had a catapult, the old one is dumped into the center of the table face down. (It will re-emerge from the deck after the current deck has run out.)

3. CAST SUIT DOUBTS

Put 1 - 3 fitting hand cards face down on the catapult card and "cast" them to the chosen player(s).

• The catapult can shoot 1 card of the same suit (as the catapult). However after usage, it's dumped into the center face down (= no shield bonus).
• The catapult can also shoot 1 - 3 cards of the same number, in which case it's collected face up into the shooter's history line (as a doubt shield).
• The player decides freely where to cast each doubt by placing them face down on the targeted history lines. (It's allowed to cast all to one in a multi-shot.)

ENDING

DECK RUNS OUT

The player who picked the last card shuffles a new deck from the dumped cards (if any). If happens again, shuffled again.

OPEN CARDS RUN OUT

When the deck runs out and there's no dumped cards left, there's no more supply for open cards. After the last open card has been picked:

• OPT OUT: The round continues, but players can now opt out on their turn: dump remaining hand cards (and ununsed catapult) face down into the center.
• REVEAL: When all are empty handed (or have got stuck earlier by hand full of own suit), the round stops and history lines are revealed.
  • Each separates their shields to its own line, and flips the doubts around. The hand cards of any players that got stuck are verified (cheating = losing).

SCORING

The revealed history lines indicate which players remained unexposed: have enough shields to block the rightful doubts.

• FACE CARDS (x 2): Any strong shields (= with high cards: J, Q, K) are doubled as 2 shields, and likewise highly rightful doubts are doubly exposing.
• ACE PLAYERS (A): It costs 1 shield to block 1 rightful doubt (= same suit as the ace), and 2 shields against 1 strongly rightful doubt (= with face cards).
• JOKER PLAYER (joker): All doubts are equally rightful for the joker player: it costs 1 shield to block any 1 doubt (any suit, low or high).
• SELF DOUBT (1 or 2): In addition, each player has to also clear their inner doubt: Clearing an ace requires 2 shields, while clearing the joker 1 shield.
• Counting can be visualized by first dumping any unrightful doubts (of ace players) and then cancelling the remaining doubts against shields.

Each player that remained unexposed (by having blocked all rightful doubts) is a winner. The game is often played until 2 or 3 wins.

EXTENSIONS

TABOO ON THE WIRE (role based)

This extension adds a subtle layer of role dynamics by giving the suit cards specific roles.

• For all roles it still applies that you can only win if you remain unexposed (= enough shields to block the rightful doubts). But each has extra requirements.
• BAD GUYS: The black aces ♤A and ♧A are the bad guys: they want bonus shields, and to win must have at least 1 shield (after blocking the rightful doubts).
• DETECTIVES: The red aces ♥A and ♦A are detectives, who can only win if all the bad guys present in the round are exposed.
  • For each exposed bad guy, the detectives gain 1 extra shield: each takes one of the dumped cards (or some other token) into their history lines face down.
• McNULTY: The joker is detective McNulty who wins if he can figure out the network and point out to everyone where the bad guys are.
  • The perfect moment is right before revealing the history lines: he shouts out and points where each black ace is (= which suit is which player, or whether out).
  • Like others McNulty must remain unexposed, but it makes no difference to him whether the bad guys are officially exposed or not (just proving the pattern).

Story-strategical notes

• The bad guys mostly care about shields (to ensure their victory). To perfect the art, they'll want to betray any other bad guy and stop McNulty.
• The detectives want all the bad guys exposed (and so often choose black catapult suits). As always the selfish ones try to expose each other and McNulty.
• For McNulty it's him against the world. To live up to perfection, he'd have to expose everyone else, or then be satisfied with sharing the victory.

STRATEGY

PLAYING SUITS

• Obviously, try not to show which suit you are. So stick to 1 or 2 chosen suits for catapults (the 3rd one can totally give you away) and keep your poker face.
  • Even during the last shots, be careful to not make it obvious - to avoid some deadly last blows (and avoid helping McNulty in the Taboo on the Wire).
• However, revealing something about yourself (up to 2 suits) is not necessarily detrimental but can be beneficial as well:
  • Firstly, if in need of an outlet, it's often good to open up the 2nd suit: It's better to get the shields and shoot others than to wither away.
  • By showing some catapult suit, you're mostly making life harder for that particular suit - as it becomes easier for others to find the right target. If you're the joker player, you can be doubly pleased since it will also direct some half rightful doubts away from you.
• Try to avoid choosing the same main/first/only catapult suit as someone else. This will make the situation worse for both of you (= better for all others).
• Try not to collect cards of your own suit. However, sometimes picking an open card of your suit can greatly mislead others (but it should fit your plans).
• Prefer casting doubts with the same number instead of same suit. The main reason is to get a shield but there are many others (see below).

POWER OF THE SAME NUMBER SHOTS

When planning what to cast, prefer casting with the same number instead of the same suit (= your catapult suit). In order of obviousness:

• Obviously, you get the catapult as a shield for this feat. The only downside is that it stays visible to everyone (instead of potentially becoming forgotten).
• Sometimes you can get lucky and find another card of the same number and shoot a double (or even triple) shot.
• Playing numbers, it's easier to shoot again with the same suit, as opposed to consuming your catapult suit cards quickly (and soon need a new suit).
• You'll very likely have better knowledge for choosing the targets - fewer targets to choose from.
  • When you cast with your catapult suit, it can often be that no one else has the same catapult suit - so you don't know where to cast.
  • By playing the same number you're casting some other suit, and it's much more likely that others have used that particular suit -> fewer potential targets.

OTHER WISDOMS

• Use high cards preferably only for the shots you're (nearly) certain about. And try to cast them with the same number to gain a double shield.
• Pay more attention to which suits others don't pick (from the open cards) than what they do pick. The suits they pick are often (or will be) visible in their history, and the numbers picked fit their cards at the moment.
• Periodically scan around the situation visualized by the collected catapults (= shields) to figure out some emerging patterns.
  • However the visualized situation is not the whole, because sometimes catapults are dumped instead. So remember those moments until the end.
• When others struggle but you have many fitting hand cards, keep up the pressure: don't pick the open cards they don't want, and soon they'll stumble (and yield a new catapult suit).

HISTORY

v1 - Suit Taboo (2024-02-25 -> 2024-02-28)

• v1.1 (2024-04-01): After first real game sessions, changed details about scoring related to face cards (and accordingly removed Most Rightful Faces extension).
• v1.0 (2024-02-28): Refined how many hand cards (4 -> 5) and that only with face cards you can cast same suit.
• v0.2 (2024-02-27): Reorganized scoring (= replaced it with a mechanism), some game details and extensions.
• v0.1 (2024-02-25): First version of the game. Idea was to stay hidden while figuring out who others are (but by casting doubts you also reveal about yourself).

THANKS

INSPIRATION

The original inspiration from exploring the dynamics of separated knowledge, more specifically (the universal game of) hide-n-seek.

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Johannes Aho, Ville Viitala